How to Move From Android to iPhone

Switching between Android and iPhone used to mean losing things. It is now largely automated, but the automation only runs at one specific moment, and missing that moment is what turns an easy migration into a long weekend.

The moment that matters

Apple’s Move to iOS app transfers your data directly from an Android phone during the iPhone’s initial setup, and only during initial setup.

If you have already tapped through setup and reached the home screen, the offer is gone. Recovering it means erasing the iPhone and starting again, which is fine on a new phone and painful on one you have already begun using.

So before you switch on the new phone: install Move to iOS from the Play Store on the Android device, charge both, and put them near the router.

Running the transfer

1. Start the iPhone and proceed until the Apps & Data screen.
2. Choose Move Data from Android.
3. Open Move to iOS on the Android phone and accept the terms.
4. Enter the code the iPhone displays.
5. Select what to bring across, then leave both phones alone.

The two phones create a private Wi-Fi network between themselves, so no internet connection is needed. Expect anywhere from fifteen minutes to over an hour depending on how many photos you have.

Do not use either phone while it runs. Taking a call on the Android device drops the connection and restarts the whole transfer.

What comes across, and what does not

Contacts, message history, photos and videos, mail accounts, calendars and browser bookmarks all transfer. Free apps available on both platforms are downloaded automatically where a match exists.

What does not transfer is the part worth planning for:

• Paid apps. Buying an app on Android does not entitle you to the iOS version. Two separate stores, two separate purchases.
• App data for most third-party apps. The app installs empty and you sign in again.
• Music and films that were downloads rather than streams, particularly anything with copy protection.
• Passwords saved in Chrome or Samsung’s browser.
• Two-factor authenticator codes, which deliberately refuse to move.

Deal with authenticators first

This is the single thing most likely to cause real trouble, and it is entirely avoidable.

Authenticator apps generate the six digit codes that protect your accounts, and they are designed not to be copied between devices. Wipe or sell the Android phone before moving them and you may be locked out of the accounts those codes protect, with recovery taking days.

Some authenticators now offer an account-based transfer. Where yours does, use it before switching. Where it does not, go into each protected account and re-register the new phone while the old one still works. Keep the Android device until you have confirmed every account can be reached.

Messaging

WhatsApp supports moving chat history between platforms, but it must be done during the same initial setup window and the steps are specific to the app. Do it as part of the migration rather than afterwards.

Also turn off RCS or chat features on the Android phone before you stop using it. Otherwise messages from other Android users can continue routing to a device you no longer carry, and they simply appear not to arrive.

Going the other way

Moving from iPhone to Android works similarly, using the setup assistant on the new phone with a cable between the two, and again only during initial setup.

One extra step matters here: deregister iMessage before you stop using the iPhone. Otherwise Apple keeps routing messages from other iPhone users through iMessage to a phone you no longer have, and your new number appears unreachable to a large share of contacts. Apple provides a deregistration page for exactly this, and it also works after the fact.

Keep the old phone for a fortnight either way. It costs nothing and it is the difference between a small annoyance and a genuine problem.

Before you part with the old handset, run through the pre-sale checklist.